As readers (or is it reader) of this blog know, the Divine Mrs. M and I recently returned home from a trip to Italy. We arrived in late March in Sicily and spent 18 days touring the island and a good part of southern Italy. As always, we were struck by the welcome the natives rolled out for us and despite the usual tourist ripoff attempts we thoroughly enjoyed our trip.
Our tour group was one of the first of the season and the weather was unusually warm for this time of year, yet many locals told us the heat will be literally unbearable as the traditional tourist season begins in late spring and early summer. Temperatures in the triple digits become common and readings over 110 degrees are not unheard of. Europe is warming faster than any place on earth and Italy's proximity to northern Africa exacerbates the problem.
Our tour guide expects it will be too hot to conduct tours in July and August in the boot heel of Italy and Sicily in the near future. After all, heat stroked tourists are not a good look for the country. Climate change is real and is affecting many sectors of the Italian economy. The booming tourist business is like the canary in the coal mine.
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